


I.D.

by Valkyrien



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Also The Vuvalini Are Basically A Biker Gang, And About Nux And Coma Being Cancer Survivors, And The Badass Lady Bikers (And Their Adopted Girls Who Also Need Therapy) Who Love Them, And The War Boys Are Pretty Much Gutter-Punk Hot-Rodders, Because It's What This World Needs, But Mostly This Is About How Slit Gets His Life Back, Coming Home Is A Religious Experience For The Broken, Everyone Is Healing Together, Everyone Is In Recovery From Past Traumas, Everyone's Family Is Theirs By Choice, F/M, Good Thing Too They Are In Great Demand, Multi, Some More So Than Others, There Is Also Dad Max And Dad Ace, They Work For Ace And Some Of Them Are Involved With Coma's Band, This Story Is About Hot-Rodding Gutter-Punk Mechanics Who Need Therapy, This Story Is Basically About Capable The Feelings-Detective, Which Is Central To The Issue Of Slit's Life Being Six Shades Of Jacked Up, You Can't Throw A Wrench Without Hitting A Parental Figure, everyone has problems
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-12 20:30:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4493625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valkyrien/pseuds/Valkyrien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is the result of mine falling in love with this Mad Max Kinkmeme prompt:</p><p>'Modern AU setting. Nux and Capable are a couple, and that means Nux's pal Slit and Capable's sisters/friends occasionally all hang out together. Nux and Slit are really punk-looking with lots of body mods. Then one day Nux shows the group this pic of what Slit used to look like before: http://www.xmendaysoffuturepast.com.au/images/characters/desktop/chars/Xmen-Stryker.png Slit is really embarrassed, but the pic changes the way one of Capable's friends view him.'</p><p>Really, I was already fermenting something very like this in the darker recesses of my mind, and so when I saw this I knew it was meant to be. Luckily the OP agreed and so here we are!</p><p>In essence, the above prompt but modified to allow me to explore communal healing and found family Mad Max: Fury Road modern AU style, starring Slit, the angriest baby lizard in all the land (he has good reason to be, though).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The original prompt and some discussion can be found here:
> 
> http://madmaxkink.dreamwidth.org/450.html?thread=1017282

  
  
  
    Capable's no stranger to the strange, is the thing. The weird, the offbeat, the eccentric - Capable knows all about that. She knows that 'family' can mean any one of a hundred-odd different things, depending on who's saying it. She knows love is difficult because it's a many-splendored thing and that no two loves are ever entirely alike.  
  
  
    The thing is, Capable isn't put off by the strange. To her, no one's definition of family is invalid, no one's life choices or way to love is hers to judge.  
  
  
    That said, Capable is also damaged, and so are all the people she calls her family, who are all odd in their own special ways, and this means that for all Capable is open-minded as they come, her head one big observatory streaming messages of positivity and light to anything with a receiver, she's got limits.  
  
  
    The thing is, Capable loves Nux. She does. She utterly adores him, every inch, but she finds herself having to admit that if Nux' brother had been around when she first got to know Nux himself... that would probably have been a deal-breaker. And Capable doesn't like to write people off.  
  
  
    It's not the scars, like some might assume, or the body-modifications - Nux has those too, albeit different ones, and Capable fully respects and understands every person's right to self-express through visual means in any way they choose providing it hurts no one else, and clearly no one but Nux and his brother were harmed in the process of collecting their vast and various array of bodily adornments. So it isn't that.  
  
  
    It also isn't the clothes or the attitude, not really, because again, it's a lot like Nux' tastes in that respect and Capable has nothing whatsoever against the gutter-punk aesthetic as far as it applies to them. That's their choice, and it's not for her to dictate what makes them feel comfortable.  
  
  
    What is the problem, she tells Furiosa one night over some herbal tea, after she just can't hold it in any longer and needs a sounding board for her feelings, is that while Nux is really equal parts sweet cinnamon roll, too good, too pure for this world, and hard-core punk-rock gear-head, Nux' brother Slit is...  
  
  
    “ - he's just kind of an asshole.”  
  
  
    Furiosa takes this in, calm and impassive but always straight to the point, and she asks,  
  
  
    “How so? Does he make you feel unsafe?”  
  
  
    “No,” Capable says simply, because it's not that at all but she's glad Furiosa's priority is to ask her that, sounding out the state of Capable's limits to keep her careful and honest,  
  
  
    “Nothing like that. I mean, he looks fairly terrifying because of the scars and I wouldn't want Cheedo seeing him without being prepared for it first, but no. We just don't get along. At all. I have really tried, but he genuinely seems to hate me.”  
  
  
    “Is he just like this with you? Antagonistic?” Furiosa prods,  
  
  
    “You know he's the only family Nux has got - he's an older brother and Nux has been through a lot. Maybe he's overprotective.”  
  
  
    “He hasn't been around much, from what Nux would tell me, so I'd be surprised if that was it,” Capable replies, slow and dubious,  
  
  
    “But it's not really just me, either. He doesn't get along with anyone.”  
  
  
    “How does that manifest itself?”  
  
  
    “He's rude, emotionally volatile, angry,” Capable lists,  
  
  
    “Very closed-off. He never engages anyone and when they engage him he acts like he's personally offended by it, snaps at people.”  
  
  
    “Have you spoken to Nux about it?” Furiosa asks quietly, and Capable sighs.  
  
  
    “I've tried.”  
  
  
    “And did he make any excuses for this behaviour, or explain it at all?” Furiosa pushes, and Capable wrinkles her nose and stares into her tea.  
  
  
    “He said he was really sorry for the way Slit acts and that he wishes it could be different, but he didn't really explain. When I asked why Slit's so angry all the time, all Nux would say was that he didn't use to be, Before.”  
  
  
    “So it seems likely he's dealing with some emotional baggage,” Furiosa sums up.  
  
  
    “I got the impression it was serious,” Capable agrees,  
  
  
    “Nux jokes about his cancer constantly, but he wouldn't even begin to discuss whatever happened to make Slit so different to how Nux insists he used to be.”  
  
  
    “Nux might not feel comfortable sharing Slit's story without Slit's knowledge,” Furiosa points out, and Capable nods, thoughtful.  
  
  
    “He said it wasn't for him to tell and that he didn't recommend asking Slit about it directly - not that I would,” she says earnestly, and Furiosa nods.  
  
  
    “Of course not,” Furiosa agrees, then tips her head, considering,  
  
  
    “Alright. It's possible Slit just needs time to work through his issues, whatever they are. Don't change your approach to him, and check in with yourself as always. If you and Nux make plans with your sisters that might include him, check in with them beforehand so they're prepared, and let me know if anything changes. Thank you for telling me about this.”  
  
  
    They exchange smiles and a quick press of foreheads, and Capable leaves. Furiosa isn't deadly serious at all times, but she takes the safety of her girls seriously, and for that Capable is very grateful. To her, that's family.  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

 

 

 

   Capable is no stranger to the strange, and neither are her sisters, but while she isn't put off by Nux' brother's scars or clothes or attitude, she is put off by what by now sadly appears to be just his thoroughly unpleasant personality.  
  
  
    She'll admit to herself that this is okay because everyone has limits in that regard, but she is a little guilty over the fact that she now has to outright accept that if Slit had been in the picture when she met Nux, that almost certainly would have been a deal-breaker. The guilt is mostly based in her being a deeply empathic person with great reserves of compassion, which makes her unwilling to admit defeat in the face of Slit's stubborn nastiness, but it is also at least in part based on the fact that had it not been for Capable forging a bond with Nux it is entirely unlikely that her sister, Angharad, would ever have found Coma, and that would have been a tragedy.  
  
  
    Coma isn't really Coma, of course, except he is and couldn't be anyone else if he tried, but by that Capable means that Coma is a self-chosen name, a sub-culturally influenced moniker adopted in order for Coma to rise above what damaged him and become someone more than his damage.  
  
  
    What she's saying is that she's never seen his birth certificate, but obviously whatever's on there is not 'Coma Doof', which is all anyone ever calls him.  
  
  
    Coma is also an excellent example of what Capable means when she says she's used to strange - her sisters, too - not that she needs to prove anything, because Coma is undeniably strange, but Capable couldn't imagine him any different than he is and she's sure that he and Angharad could never have grown so close if he had been.  
  
  
    Angharad, for all her divine resilience, is also damaged. Capable's not sure there's a single person she knows who isn't, but it's different for she and her sisters, she knows.  
  
  
    So yes, Angharad is damaged, and when Capable met Nux it was at the hospital as a result of that. She was there to see her sister. Nux was there with Coma, both of them cancer survivors, both making excellent recoveries after their most recent courses of treatment, but only one of them able to drive.  
  
  
    That is, Capable has no idea whether Coma ever learned but it's certainly no longer relevant because cancer took Coma's eyes and left him reliant upon Nux and other old friends to drive him to his check-ups.  
  
  
    Capable doesn't judge people based on appearances, but this was a low day, a damage-day, and she took a wrong turn heading out of Angharad's ward to go home and wound up in a part of the hospital unknown to her, and there she met Nux who on this low day seemed to Capable to be an insurmountable obstacle.  
  
  
    At least, he did until she was forced to ask him how on earth to get to the exit for lack of anyone else to pose the question to, and he promptly dispelled any illusions she might have had of him as a scary skinhead type upon whom she could probably rely for rudeness and a little old-fashioned sexist bullshit by falling all over himself to help her in sheer enthusiasm at having something useful to do while blithely babbling about how much he hated hospitals because he'd seen too much of them during his illness and he'd be happy to show her out himself if she'd maybe wait a few minutes because he was there -   
  
  
    “ - with a friend; Coma.”  
  
  
    “I'm not sure I can wait that long,” Capable had replied, mainly because she was too tired and sick-sad to process, but Nux had simply stared at her blankly for all of a second and then collapsed into giggles just shy of an actual gale of laughter out of respect for their surroundings.  
  
  
    “No, no - sorry, no - my mate, Coma - that's his name,” he'd explained,  
  
  
    “I'm Nux.”  
  
  
    “I'm Capable,” she had said, returning the introduction, and he'd shone with delight.  
  
  
    “Good!” he'd told her, and her shoulders had loosened and her worries had lifted, and for a moment she'd just been young and a little bit smitten with such light-heartedness.  
  
  
    And then of course, there'd been Coma, and for all he's soft-spoken and polite, he's as funny now as he'd been then, and he'd been thrilled at the prospect of showing Capable out, because as he put it, that way he could be sure Nux had incentive to actually get them all out of this warren and a witness if Nux decided to ditch a poor blind invalid and drive off to pawn all of said invalid's guitars.  
  
  
    Capable will admit to herself that if it had been Slit whom Nux was waiting for that day at the hospital, Capable would not have stuck around. She would not have gone with these two pleasant, helpful, odd-looking boys, or allowed them to buy her a celebratory 'Still Cancer Free' drink to get her mind off things with Angharad.  
  
  
    (Capable had a herbal tea, to soothe her nerves, and neither one of the boys had said a word about it. That had raised them in her esteem and she will freely admit it.)  
  
  
    Mainly she wouldn't have because had it been Slit, there wouldn't have been two pleasant, helpful, odd-looking boys to go anywhere with. There would have been Nux, whose light is considerably dimmed in the presence of his snarling sibling, and Slit, whom Capable can't imagine any single young woman in her right mind would feel comfortable going anywhere with only five minutes after initially meeting by chance.  
  
  
    And then Capable never would have gotten to know Nux, or fallen so deeply, so wildly in love with him, and she never would have gotten to know Coma, or found out from him that the main secret to his positivity after everything he's been through has been music and a wonderful trauma-recovery-oriented group therapy session he attends regularly each week, and so Capable never would have been able to recommend said group to Angharad once she was out of hospital, and Angharad never would have gotten a place anyway had Coma not known Capable by then and put in a good word with the group's organiser to allow her to join even though they were actually refusing new members at that point due to concern over too many voices diluting the sessions' progress, and Angharad and Coma never would have struck up what they have now as a result, which is a beautiful, symbiotic relationship of mutual trust, respect, and a focus on healing emotional and physical wounds in fellowship.  
  
  
    If Nux had been at the hospital with Slit that day, both Capable and Angharad would have missed out on these marvellous individuals and all the incredible, positive energy they have brought with them into the lives of Capable and her sisters, and that would have been terrible.  
  
  


 


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

 

    Capable doesn't like to write people off, and she knows that she's at least as stubborn as Slit's determined constantly unpleasant demeanour, so while she will of course respect Nux' wishes and refrain from asking him about Slit and the Before that was apparently so different, well...

 

    Capable is a resourceful girl and there are places she can go for information that won't lead to upsetting or pressuring Nux.

 

    Places like, at least on this day in particular, Angharad's apartment, wherein Coma has long been installed like a kind of wandering sound system.

 

    (It's been months. They have separate rooms. It's working, and Angharad is over the moon.)

 

    Capable is greeted by Angharad with all the warmth she could expect if she had been away years, although Angharad had breakfast with the girls at Furiosa's only yesterday. Angharad moved out of Furiosa's house for independence, but her apartment isn't further away than she could run Home in minutes if she needed to, and it's the halfway house Capable and the girls use between Home and the rest of the World.

 

    Some days, that's nice to have.

 

    “Do you need something?” Angharad asks, always soft, always patient, and Capable glows with her because it's still at the forefront of her mind how all those months ago The Splendid Angharad lay cold and dim in a hospital bed and Capable could do nothing for her.

 

    “I wanted to ask Coma something,” she tells her,

 

    “About Nux' brother.”

 

    “Problems?” Angharad asks, lovely forehead pinching, and Capable shrugs.

 

    “That's what I don't know, and I can't ask Nux. It upsets him,” she explains, and Angharad weighs this, and warns her,

 

    “Then Coma might not want to discuss it. It can't wait until Nux is ready?”

 

    “I don't think he ever will be,” Capable says frankly,

 

    “Slit certainly isn't, but he clearly needs help now, not later. Maybe if Coma knows why, we could do something.”

 

    “He's in his chair,” Angharad tells her, open and helpful and beaming, and Capable takes it in, every ray of light shining from her like a balm to the bad memory of Angharad's damage-days.

 

    Coma's chair, like most of what he owns, is a bit of a mess.

 

    Partly because being blind and still getting to grips with the impracticalities of it doesn't make it easier to keep things neat and tidy, but mostly because being young with no support network or further education to speak of and going through a terrible illness over a period of several years lends itself well to jerry-rigging and salvaging one's way through life.

 

    So Coma's chair is something he and Nux apparently cobbled together at some point ages ago from left-over bungee cords and which is more like a small hammock for sitting in that is meant to be suspended from hooks in the ceiling, which it is, and where Coma likes to be better than almost anywhere else for complicated reasons having to do with sound vibrations and sensory immersion and the fact that he's an absolute child and likes to swing back and forth and bounce about while he shreds on one of his countless guitars which are the only extravagance Coma allows himself.

 

    Angharad has a massively overstuffed armchair right next to it. She finds it soothing to watch him rock.

 

    “Capable!” he grins, fingers dancing lightly over his unplugged favourite in a little riff to match her gait, swinging gently from side to side, and Capable smiles at him.

 

    “You heard me come in,” she assumes, and Coma giggles to himself, picking a different little tune.

 

    “I heard a Splendid voice raised in raptures,” he agrees, and Angharad laughs like stars twinkling and settles into her armchair while Capable sinks into the sofa, facing them.

 

    Coma's not difficult to talk to, as such, but in order to make sense of him, Capable has found, one has to understand that Coma sees everything in musical terms - lyrics, chords, the hum of a string plucked. Coma's whole life has been lived in and through music, a prodigy just like his mother apparently was before him, and before her untimely passing from life. The music she started teaching him, which so shaped him, was Coma's last remaining connection to her once. Now, it's his strongest connection to the world.

 

    Angharad told Capable once that while the way he's dealt with everything he's been through, and how he's come out of it still so strong, are her greatest inspiration to find her own healing, what she most admires is how honest he is about having had this advantage of something to cling to and get him through. Coma can learn to live without eyes, he told Angharad, because he doesn't need them to play, or to learn new music. Coma could not, he admitted all that time ago when Angharad had asked whether he'd ever felt like giving up, on a sad and tired day, have learnt to live without his hearing, or his fingers.

 

    Everyone has their limits.

 

    Personally, Capable finds it utterly charming how he relates everything to music.

 

    “I wanted to ask you about Slit,” Capable tells him, preferring to shoot straight, and Coma's hands slide as if he's not sure where to put them, but Capable knows that can't be right.

 

    “Slit...” Coma hums, striking a melancholy chord,

 

    “Known him as long as Nux, first drummer the War Boys ever had, got me my first Kate Bush album...” Capable watches with interest as he cycles through the upbeat but slightly nostalgic set of notes he sometimes plays when he mentions Nux, his thoughtful expression set as he switches to something she recognises as the opening bar to an old WB favourite, the one Nux likes to play cranked all the way up when he's underneath his Deuce Coupé sparking hot with ideas, and finally Coma's fingers trail softly into the tinkling sweetness of Wuthering Heights, but only all for just as long as it takes him to mention them.

 

    It's like a miniature song made up of memories and associations, and Capable loves it. Angharad's smile is warm and content.

 

    “I was wondering,” Capable says carefully,

 

    “Whether you could tell me why he's so unhappy. Nux says he wasn't always, but he is now, and... well, I'd like to help. I don't think Nux knows how, but he won't talk to me about what happened to Slit and I don't know enough about any of it to do anything.”

 

    The note Coma hits is jarring in the split second it takes him to stroke it away.

 

    “If Nux doesn't want to talk about it...” he says slowly, and Angharad reaches out to touch her bare foot to his, asking without words. Capable is grateful.

 

    “Please, Coma? Just whatever you can tell me. All I know is that Slit was gone for a really long time while Nux was sick, and then something bad happened to make him come home,” Capable says, and Coma taps his strings like he's thinking.

 

    “If he was your first drummer, you must have known him the way he was then,” Angharad prompts, encouragingly, and Coma smiles, stroking a happy sound over the fret.

 

    “And you've seen him the way he is now, since he got back,” Capable picks up,

 

    “Haven't you? So you know he's not doing well, and you must have seen how it's affecting Nux, too. That affects us all. I really do just want to help, Coma.”

 

    “He's not ready,” Coma says, simple and sad,

 

    “That's why he doesn't want Nux telling anyone who didn't already know. And Nux feels guilty, so he'll never tell until Slit wants it out. He's got help, just...”

 

    The note he wrings out of his guitar is high and soft and miserable.

 

    “Maybe not enough?” Angharad asks, and Coma nods.

 

    “Not enough time, not enough help to help yet,” he agrees, and Angharad links her smallest toe with his smallest toe, for a few seconds, then pulls her legs back underneath her and leans in to reach a hand out to curl along one of Coma's bungee cords.

 

   “Is there anything we can do?” Capable presses, discouraged,

 

    “To help him be ready?”

 

    “Don't judge,” Coma suggests,

 

    “Don't assume. Try not to blame him for how bad he is. Slit's... not a War Boy anymore. He's finding his way Home again.”

 

    “But you can't go Back,” Angharad says softly, sympathetic,

 

    “It's never like it Was.”

 

    “So you find something New,” Capable says, because this is what she knows, this is what they've all had to do, and Coma nods again, fingers sliding sadly still.

 

    “Have to find yourself again first,” he reminds them, and Capable understands.

 

    You can't go Home, if you don't know where that is anymore.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

  
    Capable never had much use for cars or other vehicles before coming Home to Furiosa and the girls, other than as purely functional objects, but Capable also is not the kind of girl who can be surrounded by something which the people she cares for are deeply interested in and enthusiastic about without taking a personal interest as well. As a result, she now knows a great deal about truck maintenance, manual gear-shifts, and motorcycles.  
  
  
    Capable is also au fait with the world of hot rods and other 'modded' vehicles to a degree which prior to meeting Nux it never would have occurred to her that she would ever become.  
  
  
    It's not that Capable had no idea what a hot rod was before she met Nux, but rather that until that day at the hospital she had never actually seen one up close and personal, or known that they were for anything other than racing and displaying at conventions.  
  
  
    Now, though, months into the most profound emotional investment Capable has made in another human being other than her Sisters and Furiosa since coming Home, Capable knows all sorts of interesting things which are both interesting in themselves and interesting because of how Nux lights up her world when he's telling her about them and can see she's listening avidly.   
  
  
    For instance, she knows that Nux' street-legal 'road' car is a '32 Ford 'Deuce Coupé', which is one of the absolute all-time most popular models for hot-rodders, and that Nux has put his blood, sweat and tears quite literally into building it, which he has been doing since before he was old enough to actually legally drive the thing.   
  
  
    Capable could -and does on occasion - hold perfectly sensible conversations with people, some of whom are hot-rodders themselves, about Nux' beloved Deuce Coupé, and is perfectly equipped to explain that Nux' is actually built with an original body which he salvaged from a scrap-yard he worked in as a young teen and kept stored at Ace's Garage for years as he added bits and pieces, mostly NOS and salvaged parts, making it more of a custom job than a rod in that respect, and how he tinkered and put it all together and learned how to make it as glorious as possible. She can even hold her own when talk turns to the way Nux has modded and rodded it - the flatty V-8 that powers it and how it's tuned and hopped-up and cleverly supercharged and what that even means.  
  
  
    Nux' other car - the one he does use for racing - is a little more complicated. As in, Capable can follow the discussion and knows where it differs from the Deuce Coupé - Nux' racer is a '34 Chevy, also original body but less 'restored to former glory and then turned up to 11' than 'made as fast and insane as possible' - but some of the more technical details regarding the engine mods and re-routed exhaust system and how here the term NOS refers to nitrous oxide supercharging instead of car parts escape her. What she does know is that the racer is every bit the labour of love that the Deuce is, but not at all street-legal, and that it's the special kind of absurdly beautiful and ludicrously powerful that she has come to associate inextricably with Nux.  
  
  
    What all this means is that Capable is a familiar face at the races, and almost as much of a fixture at Ace's as Nux is himself, because Capable realised early on in their acquaintance that if she was to spend as much time as possible with Nux, a lot of that time would necessarily be spent in and around cars of varying types. Nux doesn't just work at the garage, it is also where he spends most of his free time, tinkering with both his cars, and so Capable took it upon herself to learn the name of every tool he could possibly want handed to him, and to cultivate a healthy interest in hot metal and how to make it go faster.   
  
  
    Occasionally details go over her head, and she hasn't quite got the hot rod slang down exactly just yet, but Nux talks about cars in his sleep and at any given point his apartment will be full of engine parts - as long as she's known him his coffee table has actually been a beautiful, shining engine block overlaid with a reinforced glass plate - and he tells her repeatedly that she is better at this stuff already than a lot of the would-be mechanics he's known in his time, and so she is happy.  
  
  
    She has also come to enjoy the smells of the garage, the same smells that cling to Nux' hands and his leather jacket and most of his clothes - they are now a comfort - and of course Capable was thrilled to learn that Nux worked where he'd also been apprenticed as a kid; at Ace's Garage, the only place Furiosa will take any of her own vehicles to be looked at by someone other than herself, and where Valkyrie and the other Vuvalini get the Family Discount whenever they roll through with something that needs a little off-road attention.  
  
  
    It's not really called Ace's Garage, just 'The Garage', but it is Ace's garage, and Ace is the lifeblood of the place, and a sort of mentor-come-father-figure to every rev-head and rodder for miles. The place does everything from custom work to ordinary repairs and welcomes everyone from families with minivans that blow a tire or need a service to the local constabulary and right across the spectrum to people like Nux and the Vuvalini.  
  
  
    Capable absolutely adores him, and he is always, always happy to see her. The first time Nux had ever suggested she swing by the garage, Capable had turned the matter with Furiosa, still wary of such newness all at once, and Furiosa had asked,  
  
  
    “Which garage?”  
  
  
    “Nux said Ace's place, down by - ” Capable had begun, and Furiosa had cracked an actual grin and interrupted her.  
  
  
    “You'll be good. Give him our love, and tell him Valkyrie says the job's a beauty,” she'd instructed, and Capable had nodded and waited until she could talk to Nux and told him all about it, asking whether he knew what she meant, and he'd beamed.  
  
  
    “Valkyrie and the Ladies get the Family Discount,” he'd told her, and then so proud,  
  
  
    “I worked on that job last time! Ace'll dance hearing that!”  
  
  
    “So you don't think he'll mind? I won't be in the way?”  
  
  
    “You'll be with me, and anyone Furiosa sends is welcome at Ace's - tell him what Valkyrie said, he'll love you like his own,” Nux had said, like it was that simple.  
  
  
    Capable marvels now at how she'd never known it could be that simple, before coming Home here. But it is - Capable is family to Furiosa, and to Valkyrie now, and the other Vuvalini, and she's family to Nux even though that's different, and that makes her family to Ace, too, along with her Sisters.  
  
  
    Ace has known Nux most of his life, the grease-happy little gear-head he once was dreaming of becoming a mechanic and building his own cars had sought out the best garage around and made himself part of the scenery long before he was really old enough, and Ace had taken him in because Nux had nowhere to go and natural talent that damn well should be nurtured by the best going, and Capable is so glad of it because now she can't imagine a Nux who hadn't had Ace to teach him, and it means that Capable's family at the Garage, so she can come and go even if Nux isn't there, and when she does, she's greeted like it's Home.  
  
  
    “There's our very Capable girly!” Ace declares, pleased, goggled and sliding from under a raised car as she wanders in,  
  
  
    “Lookin' for yer boy?”  
  
  
    “No, Ace, just wanted to come round and see you, ask you some things,” she tells him honestly, smiling and sitting down next to his open tool-box, and Ace nods and slides back under the car.  
  
  
    “Right-o - ask me the things,” he prompts, and Capable threads her fingers together and leans in.  
  
  
    “You know Nux' brother, Slit?” she starts, and there's a metallic clanking from under the car followed by a,  
  
  
    “Slit? Yeah, course. Good boy - sad, what happened. Glad to 'ave most of 'im back.”  
  
  
    “What did happen, Ace?” Capable asks intently,  
  
  
    “Nux won't tell me.”  
  
  
    “Won't he indeed,” Ace grunts,  
  
  
    “Not surprised. Tried askin' Slit?”  
  
  
    “I don't think that's such a good idea,” Capable says slowly, unsure,  
  
  
    “Slit... doesn't really like me.”  
  
  
    “Doesn' know ya to like ya,” Ace rumbles, good-natured and wise, and Capable has to agree.  
  
  
    “That's true,” she allows,  
  
  
    “But he seems determined not to get to know me or get along with me, so I don't think he'd take kindly to me prying into whatever he's been through. Nux agrees.”  
  
  
    “Been through enough,” Ace says shortly,  
  
  
    “What's Furiosa say ta do?”  
  
  
    “Try and wait him out, until he's ready to start talking and let us all in,” Capable shrugs even though Ace isn't looking,  
  
  
    “But he's not getting the help he needs, I don't think, and he's pushing everyone away, even Nux. It's not good. I'd like to help.”  
  
  
    “Talked ta anyone else about it?”  
  
  
    “I spoke to Coma,” Capable informs him honestly,  
  
  
    “He agreed that Slit isn't doing well and needs better support, but he wouldn't tell me much else, so I don't even really know what kind of support Slit might need.”  
  
  
    Ace sighs heavily and rolls out to look at Capable - even wearing his dark goggles Capable feels the weight of his gaze.  
  
  
    “Coma's a good lad too, but Slit won't take to the kind of help Coma and yer Splendid get themselves. I'd like t' help the boy, Capable - I've spoken to 'im 'bout alla this, ya know. Offered him a job, help him get back on his feet... I've known Slit since he was younger'n your Cheedo. 'Im and Nux'll always have a place with me, but I can't force the boy ta take it if he's not ready,” Ace says, firm but sad, and Capable nods.  
  
  
    “I understand, Ace.”  
  
  
    “You're a good girl,” Ace tells her with a quirked smile,  
  
  
    “An' you're clever, so I know you do, and I'm glad you want to help. I'm sure Nux is, too. This isn't somethin' he can handle on his own. I can't tell ya Slit's story, that has ta come from him, but I can tell you that if it hadn't been for Slit, your boy wouldn' be with us today, and likely neither would Coma.”  
  
  
    “Is that why Nux feels guilty? He won't tell me anything about it, or about why Slit wasn't there while Nux was sick,” Capable asks, voice a little smaller. She doesn't like to think about Nux not having the person he was closest to in the world there with him during the very worst parts of his illness. Slit was all the family Nux had - still is, really, at least in the sense that Slit made himself legally responsible for Nux to get them both out of the foster system as soon as possible way back when, and Capable doesn't have all the details but she knows from what Nux has been willing to tell her about his brother that despite the age gap between them not amounting to more than a couple of years, Slit was taking care of Nux long before then, too.  
  
  
    In many ways, what Capable is looking for here is a clearer picture of Slit as the person Nux described to her when they first started seeing each other - the brave, clever, responsible, funny boy who helped protect Nux through their broken childhood years and worked constantly to make their lives a little less unbearable however he could. Capable wants to be able to see that boy in him somewhere when she looks at him now, to help bring that boy Home to Nux given time.  
  
  
    “Yer boy got sick, and his brother got him the best help he could the only way he could at the time,” Ace says gravely,  
  
  
    “Coma, too. If he could'a done it from here, he would have, but that wasn' an option. I helped out at the time, but that's why Nux feels guilty about Slit comin' home in bits, even if it wasn' his choice ta make. You see? Hard to push someone to get through bad times when they went through 'em for your sake. I know Slit doesn' regret the choices he made, because Nux and Coma are still here, and they're set now, but that doesn' make it easier, coming home like he has.”  
  
  
    “The scars,” Capable says softly, and Ace's mouth twists.  
  
  
    “Worse on the inside, girly,” he says gruffly,  
  
  
    “Would'a been home sooner but for 'em.”  
  
  
    “So Nux wasn't there for him while he healed, either?” Capable asks hesitantly, not sure she's grasped it correctly.  
  
  
    “Couldn' be, least not while the flesh parts healed,” Ace states,  
  
  
    “But there's work to be done on the boy's soul, and that don't heal as easy. Ya might say he's runnin' empty.”  
  
  
    “There's really nothing we can do, then?” Capable asks, crestfallen, and Ace looks considering.  
  
  
    “Include 'im. Don' mind 'is temper. Don' coddle him or pity him. Make sure he knows he's got family, still. It's hard bein' the one used ta takin' care of everyone, suddenly needin' that yerself from everyone you're used ta takin' care of. He'll want ta feel useful, still, like he's needed. It'll take longer ta convince him he's wanted as well, the way he is now. You and your sisters, you know about that. Need any more help, ask Max, he's been through some o' the same,” Ace advises, and then as if a sudden though strikes him, he adds,  
  
  
    “An' if you start feelin' like he's not worth the trouble he'll give ya, bein' such a stubborn bastard, ask Nux if he'll show ya some of the old pictures. Keep your eye on the prize.”  
  
  
    “Thank you, Ace,” Capable tells him, sincerely heartfelt, and leans in on her knees to brush a kiss to his weather-beaten cheek.  
  
  
    “Ah, you'll be gettin' grease all over you,” Ace rumbles, smile brightly belying his tone,  
  
  
    “Be off with ya! Go find yer boy.”  
  
  
    “I will,” Capable grins, getting up, and then remembers,  
  
  
    “Oh - I was supposed to send all Our love.”  
  
  
    “Well, send mine, girly, send mine. And you come see me if you need to.”  
  
  
    “I will!”  
  
  
    People, Capable knows now, can be Home, too.

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

  
  
  
   The problem, Capable is coming to realise, is that it is very difficult indeed to include someone who is directly opposed to taking part in anything at all that involves the participation of more than one or two other people, of whom Capable herself is not one of the lucky chosen.  
  
  
   Which is to say, Capable has no idea what Slit actually does with the vast majority of his time but she does know that he only seems willing to spend any of it at his and Nux' apartment when Capable is not here, and that he sees Coma often but has somehow managed to engineer it so that he has never even met Angharad, which given how she and Coma are practically surgically attached at the heartstrings is quite impressively avoidant behaviour.  
  
  
   The thing is, whether perhaps Nux has asked Slit to just give Capable a wide berth if they really can't get along or Slit has just decided to make himself as scarce as possible around everyone Capable knows, these days she mostly just catches glimpses of him on the way out.  
  
  
   She and Nux have been used to sharing their time equally between Furiosa's and Nux and Slit's apartment because Capable just isn't ready to take the step and move in with Nux properly - something which she'll admit has been more of an issue for her because she has always known that the locked door in the apartment barred a space where someone very central to who Nux is as a person was supposed to be but just wasn't for reasons that weren't explained to Capable, and she'd never have been able to feel comfortable moving in without first running it by that person.  
  
  
   No one should have to come Home to find that their Home has been invaded while they were away - that precious space now needs to be shared and that one was not consulted prior to this becoming fact. Especially not in the wake of something which judging by the very silence surrounding it must have been awful. Capable would never do that, and she knows Nux is grateful that she's never pushed the subject.  
  
  
   In a way, the fact that Capable isn't as brave as Angharad in finding a new Home for herself has been a blessing, but for all she hasn't moved into Nux and Slit's apartment out of respect for her own boundaries and respect for Slit's right to decide in the matter, Capable is still very much at home in it, and it's obvious she spends and has spent a great deal of time here.  
  
  
   She can see how despite her having tried to minimise her impact, it must be a very different place than the one Slit left, just like Nux has changed as the result of his attachment to Capable.  
  
  
   She can see how that might be difficult for Slit - that there are now more traces of Capable here than there ever were of him, and how if it weren't for the perpetually locked door to his room you might not even know anyone lived here except Nux but you might be forgiven for assuming Capable lived here with him.  
  
     
   Still, Furiosa's house - while still indisputably Home - is full of Capable's Sisters, and often as not also more Vuvalini than you can safely shake a wrench at, not to mention Max who is more or less a fixture at this point, and Capable and Nux are young and madly in love, and well...  
     
  
   Nux' apartment has been their haven when the only voice they wanted to hear belonged to the other. Sometimes you want to be able to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen in a state of undress without fielding a dozen nosy questions from your sisters or having to tread lightly over sleeping Vuvalini who are just crashing for the night or running into Officer Max Rockatansky doing the rounds about the house because he's an insomniac with PTSD and living in a house with so much activity doesn't do either of those issues many favours.  
  
  
   And now, well, Capable rather feels that she's running Slit out of his own Home even though it isn't actually hers as well yet and she doesn't mean to. It also makes it especially difficult to try and build any kind of rapport with him or include him in anything when he seems so determined not to be where she is and the longest interaction she's managed with him in weeks is the awkwardness that happens when she and Nux are in the apartment and Slit comes Home, sees Capable, makes a disgruntled sound while avoiding all eye contact, and mutters,  
  
  
    “Great. Bye,” before turning around and leaving again.  
  
  
   Capable is fairly sure he doesn't even sleep in his room much anymore, and when she finally voices this to Nux one evening while they're cuddling on the sofa, he looks instantly guilty enough to break her heart and mumbles,  
  
  
    “Um, yeah, he - think he's been bunking at Ace's. Doesn't wanna be in the way.”  
  
  
    “He's your brother,” Capable says, consternated,  
  
  
    “He's not in the way, this is his Home!”  
  
  
    “Well... you two don't get along, and...” Nux shrugs uncomfortably, avoiding her eyes, and Capable frowns at him, places a hand on his cheek to make him look at her.  
  
  
    “Nux, I know we don't get along and I wish that were different, but if he's never around how will we ever get better at it?” she asks, and Nux sighs and puts his hand over hers, linking their fingers.  
  
  
    “I don't know,” he says honestly, like it's upsetting him that he doesn't have a solution, and it must be, she knows it is because she is one of his favourite people in the world and Slit is his brother and his best friend housed in the same damaged vessel, and it must hurt terribly,  
  
  
    “I can't make him stay. Can't make him do anything.”  
  
  
    It's apologetic, and it shouldn't be, and Capable conveys this by kissing him gently and assuring him,  
  
  
    “You shouldn't have to and I'd never ask you to. I just wish we could help him somehow, and it's hard when he won't talk to anyone.”  
  
  
    “I've really tried,” Nux promises earnestly,  
  
  
    “But it's not like you and the girls, or Coma, it's - it's different. Slit feels responsible, and - ” he breaks off, wrestling with how little to tell her to make her understand, and Capable strokes his cheek and soothes,  
  
  
    “I know. I spoke to Ace, he said Slit left on purpose but that's not why he stayed away, and that it was to help you and Coma. I don't have any details, but I understand how hard it must have been. Neither one of you was there when your brother needed you most, because Slit didn't have any options except leaving. I don't need details to know it must have been terrible and it must have taken a lot of love to make that choice. I just wish we could show him that whatever he did, we're grateful to him for doing it for the right reasons and whatever it did to him we're here to help him through it.”  
  
  
    I wish I could tell you, but he'll hate me,” Nux says sadly, gaze downcast, and Capable holds him.  
  
  
    “I don't think he could ever hate you, and you don't have to tell me anything, but Slit will never tell anyone if he's not comfortable around them and I don't know how to make that happen,” she replies, honest and hoping that between them they can find a way.  
  
  
    “Me either,” Nux admits, fiddling with her fingers gently, mumbling,  
  
  
    “I feel like it's my fault. Slit'd kill me if I said so, but sometimes I think... If I hadn't ever gotten sick...”  
  
  
    “Then everything would probably be different,” Capable agrees, only too aware that survivor's guilt can take many forms,  
  
  
    “But we can't know that it'd be any better. It won't help us fix anything.”  
  
  
    “Slit hates that word,” Nux tells her, eyes wet, voice rough,  
  
  
    “He doesn't want fixing. He said - some things y' just scrap an' start over. Like a totalled wreck.”  
  
  
    “Good thing that's your specialty then, since that's how he sees it,” Capable murmurs soothingly, catching his hand and holding on tightly, bringing it up to press against her cheek,  
  
  
    “I've never seen you give up on a wreck before. Always something to salvage, some way to rebuild. Just like the Deuce - sometimes it just takes a long time to get things up and running smooth again.”  
  
  
    “See, that's how Slit used t' talk,” Nux says sadly, rueful, wistful,  
  
  
    “You'd really a liked him, you know. Before. Probably better than me, actually. 'M not much good at people, never learnt how.”  
  
  
    “That must be why you have a loyal army of friends who adore you,” Capable replies solemnly, as if she absolutely sees the connection, and Nux laughs shyly and hangs his head, making her lean in and give him a little kiss, tell him,  
  
  
    “You know it's true though, don't you?”  
  
  
    “Wouldn't 've met half those people if it hadn't been for Slit, and I reckon the other half's all people I met because of you,” he says with endearingly self-effacing honesty, like this social shortcoming simply is what it is,  
  
  
    Now the world's all full up of people who like me. I didn't think that could happen - I used to think that was book-dreams and telly-lies - and now I can't cross a street without being waved at. I never dreamed there'd be that many people who could just like me.”  
  
  
    “You're not unlikeable, Nux,” Capable insists gravely, concerned,  
  
  
    “You never have been. You're a lovely, generous, warm person - what's not to like?”  
  
  
    “People can't know to like you if they don't know you,” Nux points out, an echo of Ace, and Capable wrinkles her nose.  
  
  
    “You sound just like Ace,” she accuses, and Nux shrugs and says,  
  
  
    “Worse people to sound like. Ace knows a lot.”  
  
  
    “He certainly knows all about you and Slit - he was very helpful about it. Told me to ask you to show me pictures from Before in case I needed to understand better and keep focus,” Capable reveals, and Nux' eyes fill with anxiety and force her to hush him before he can release it, hold him, kiss him, promise,  
  
  
    “I'd never make you show me and I won't look for them if you don't want me to see, I'd never, don't worry - Ace only suggested it in case Slit gets a lot worse and we all need a reminder that he can be salvaged.”  
  
  
    “Slit doesn't know I still have those!” Nux whispers frantically, like at any moment Slit himself is going to leap out from behind the kitchen counter and forcibly confiscate these contraband images which Nux has so disloyally and traitorously kept,  
  
  
    “He'd burn them if he knew! No one's ever s'posed to see them - you can't tell him there's some left!”  
  
  
    Surprised by this reaction, Capable wrinkles her nose and asks with some trepidation,  
  
  
    “Are they really that awful?”  
  
  
    Nux' agitation does not abate, but he sucks his lower lip between his teeth and chews briefly before admitting,  
  
  
    “Not awful - just - really different. A lot. Very. And he doesn't want anyone to ever see them, ever. I promised!”  
  
  
    “Why?” Capable has to know, her curiosity now almost morbid, trying to think of how 'different' Slit would have to look in these images from Before for the Slit of Now to hate them so much he wants them wiped from existence and all human memory,  
  
  
    “They can't be that bad - I thought they'd just be from when you two were younger, maybe from before the scars and mods. I was sort of looking forward to pictures of you two when you were all tiny and innocent.”  
  
  
    “I'm not sure we've ever had any from that long ago,” Nux mumbles as if thinking really hard about whether such pictures were ever even taken, and Capable knows that there's a strong possibility that they weren't, given his and Slit's history, and it makes her eyes flood with sympathy for both of them and everything they've been through, but then Nux' expression shifts back into worry and his tone into urgency, and he pleads,  
  
  
    “But I promised I'd got rid of the lot and I can't show you - if he ever found out - ”  
  
  
    The front door opens and Capable and Nux both sit up unnaturally straight and with matching guilty expressions, heads turning as one to where Slit's entering the room with a suspicious look aimed their way.  
  
  
    “... what are you talking about?” he asks - startling Capable not only because this is the longest sentence he's spoken in her presence for weeks, but also because perhaps for this very reason she has yet to become accustomed to the peculiar roughness of his voice, a trait which Nux informs her is relatively new but will not confirm as the result of injuries related to some of the less planned-looking scars - suspicion tinting the ever-present anger and delivered with a tilt to the head that suggests he scents blood in the water.  
  
  
    “Nothing!” Capable insists with high, false cheer at the same time as Nux blurts,  
  
  
    “Cars!”  
  
  
    It's not the easiest thing in the world to deduce Slit's facial expressions, partially because the scarring is extensive and makes things pull in directions which God and probably Slit himself did not intend, but also because Capable just isn't used to seeing him express much emotion at all beyond a deep-seated loathing for all life and the thousand-yard stare of a man thoroughly sick of everything including himself, but Capable does briefly glimpse something of Slit's older-brotherly relation to Nux in the way he cuts his eyes to Nux and makes a low sound in his throat, all of which quite clearly conveys that he is perfectly aware that Nux is up to some bullshit and Slit is not amused by it or fooled by the laughably transparent cover-job being attempted.  
  
  
    “Right,” he states flatly, obviously in no way buying what they're selling, and Capable sees the exact moment he mentally checks himself out of the whole charade, and before she can stop herself, before the plan is anything but half-formed, before he can turn on his heel and leave, she blurts,  
  
  
    “Slit, could you do something for me!”  
  
  
    He looks as surprised as Nux does that she's engaging him, one hand still on the door, poised as if ready to bolt any second, and potentially damaged voice notwithstanding his reply is clearly dragged out of him with no little effort when he says,  
  
  
    “Like what?”  
  
  
    Capable has no idea. Nux' hand tightens on her knee like he knows this, but she shores up her smile and says the first thing that pops into her head.  
  
  
    “My sister Dag needs help removing a stump from our back garden - it's really a two-person job and it'll take forever for her to do even if Max helps, and he's always so busy - and Dag really needs it gone sooner rather than later. Nux said he'd help, but if you have the time too, it'll be so much easier,” she explains, as brightly as she can without seeming condescending - the job is real, and Max is busy, and Dag doesn't like removing even dead trees from soil for personal reasons Capable chooses not to go into and wouldn't be great help anyway, lacking the kind of raw strength needed for manual labour of this sort to be over as fast as possible.  
  
  
    She can see him weighing it internally against how little he wants to do anything with anyone, ever, and he glances at Nux who nods eagerly to corroborate Capable's story and his own part in it.  
  
  
    Capable feels like a terrible person at the way he finally rasps,  
  
  
    “When?” The defeat buried shallowly under the gravel of his tone is painful.  
  
  
    “Tomorrow?” Nux suggests, tense but quick to encourage even the slightest show of willingness to be involved in anything by Slit,  
  
  
    “Got the whole day, Ace said. 'S that okay?”  
  
  
    “Great,” Slit says, a flat response to a gallows sentence,  
  
  
    “Bye.”  
  
  
    He's gone again before Capable has time to react or thank him, or for either of them to even return his goodbye, and she swivels big eyes to where Nux is both overjoyed and horribly guilt-ridden.  
  
  
    “I can't believe he said yes,” Nux whispers,  
  
  
    “How did you do that?”  
  
  
    “I think I forced his hand,” Capable replies guiltily, biting her lip,  
  
  
    “I didn't mean to ambush him like that - it sounded like I was just trying to distract him so he wouldn't ask us any more questions! I'm terrible!”  
  
  
    “You're brilliant,” Nux says loyally, then as if something horrible has dawned on him,  
  
  
    “... is everyone going to be there tomorrow?”  
  
  
    It dawns on Capable, too, sure as the sunrise.  
  
  
    “Oh no,” she breathes,  
  
  
    “The Family.”  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

  
  
  
    Capable loves her Family, she does - every one of them is dear to her in their own special way for their own unique reasons - but she understands that they can be a little overwhelming. Not least because, like she and her Sisters, they are also Family by Choice, grown from damaged seeds into something that's flourished only through hard work and the help of others. It means that while they are not prone to judgment and their collective message is acceptance, they all have their issues and the strong personalities they've forged for themselves in hardship can make for a difficult combination when paired with people or situations which don't mesh with their world views at first glance.  
  
  
    Essentially, Capable loves and admires the Vuvalini who are currently staying with Furiosa, but she cannot deny that they are a blend of militant old-school feminists and new-age social activists who for all they get the Family Discount at Ace's and love him like their own, have divided opinions on his Boys and are to a one explicitly outspoken about this and everything else they feel.  
  
  
    She is not entirely sure that having them around Nux and Slit is any kind of good idea. Not that Nux hasn't met almost all of them at one point or another and been thoroughly vetted by Furiosa and Valkyrie to the point that his presence is at least tolerable to all of them, but they do have a habit of poking fun. Max doesn't care when he's the target, and Nux doesn't care when it's his turn to be cackled at by withered old ladies who could probably hand him his own arse if need be, but Slit is clearly not in a place in his life where exposing him to that kind of treatment will end well for anyone, and Capable needs this to work.  
  
  
    For this reason, she reaches out not just to Furiosa, but to Valkyrie as well.  
  
  
    “So you see,” she says as reasonably and inoffensively as she can, sitting at the kitchen table with them about an hour after having inadvertently and unthinkingly landed Slit right in the soup,  
  
  
    “It's best if you're not here for it.”  
  
  
    “What do ya mean we can't be here?” Keeper crackles from where she's sitting at the sofa with her knitting,  
  
  
    “We got deck chairs all ready ta go - I was gonna make margaritas - what's the point of having lads with nice shoulders over ta do the heavy lifting in the heat if we can't watch?”  
  
  
    “Deck chairs?” Capable echoes faintly, casting wild-eyed pleading glances at Furiosa and Valkyrie, and Valkyrie shakes her head and raises her voice firmly.  
  
  
    “There aren't going to be any deck chairs,” she insists, overriding Keeper's grumbling with a stern,  
  
  
    “We've got better things to do than hang about here giving Nux' brother complexes worse than he's likely already got. No deck chairs, no margaritas, no ogling.”  
  
  
    Keeper huffs wordlessly in the background as Capable sags with relief in her seat, and Valkyrie leans over to rub her hand reassuringly, telling her,  
  
  
    “We won't be in your way, don't worry.”  
  
  
    “Neither will Max and I,” Furiosa supplies,  
  
  
    “We're both working. I don't know about your sisters though, Cheedo might be home with Toast, they've got nothing planned. Do you think that'll be too much?”  
  
  
    “Honestly, yes,” Capable says frankly,  
  
  
    “He can barely stand five minutes in the same room as me when Nux is there, I have no idea how he'll react to Toast and Cheedo hanging around too, and Dag said she'll be here for some of it as well. I just really want this to go well, and I think too many people around will...”  
  
  
    She may trail off vaguely, but both Valkyrie and Furiosa nod understandingly.  
  
  
    “Of course,” Furiosa tells her knowingly,  
  
  
    “We don't want to overwhelm him at this stage. I'll tell the girls to find somewhere else to be.”  
  
  
    “That poor boy,” Valkyrie muses,  
  
  
    “Ace told me how badly he's been doing. I'm so glad you're doing this for him, Capable, and whenever he's ready, you know we'd all love to meet him.”  
  
  
    “Thank you,” Capable sighs with relief, reaching out to press their hands gratefully,  
  
  
    “This means a lot to me, and to Nux. I really wasn't planning on doing it this way, but I don't know what else to try. It's important for this to work.”  
  
  
    “I'm sure it'll go just fine,” Furiosa says calmly, and Valkyrie nods.  
  
  
    “Just don't expect too much progress right away,” she cautions,  
  
  
    “Getting out into the world doesn't always mean interacting with it healthily.”  
  
  
    “I'll be happy if he'll just interact with someone besides Nux for more than thirty seconds,” Capable admits heavily,  
  
  
    “Preferably without snarling at them like an animal in a trap.”  
  
  
    “Maybe that's how he feels,” Valkyrie suggests with the hard undertone of experience behind her helpfulness, and Capable smiles sadly.  
  
  
    “I think that's exactly how he feels. I just don't know why and now I'm worried this will make it worse - I sort of forced him into helping out tomorrow without really meaning to. I think he felt pressured to say yes,” she confesses guiltily, and Valkyrie shrugs.  
  
  
    “It's done. Your intentions were good, and once he gets better he may even be grateful for the push,” she says honestly,  
  
  
    “You're not forcing him to do anything, and neither is Nux.”  
  
  
    “But don't be disappointed if tomorrow takes a lot out of him,” Furiosa warns her,  
  
  
    “And remember to give yourself room if you have to.”  
  
  
    “I will, I promise,” Capable says sincerely,  
  
  
    “And thank you for doing this. I know you don't even know him.”  
  
  
    “He's Nux' brother,” Furiosa says, as if that's all she needs to know, and Valkyrie nods and adds,  
  
  
    “And Ace's boy. You're doing a good thing and we're happy to help.”  
  
  
    “Now, are you sleeping over?” Furiosa asks practically, and Capable nods, squeezes both their hands, and gets up.  
  
  
    “If that's okay?” she checks, and Furiosa waves her off with a hand and insists,  
  
  
    “Always. This is your Home.”  
  
  
    And it is, Capable knows as she walks up the stairs and into her room, gets ready for bed. This place is her Home and always will be, but most of all these people are her Home, and the warm feeling that gives her is enough to send her smiling into her sleep.  
  
  
    Unfortunately, this does not last as long as she had hoped for. 

 

 

 


End file.
